Companions: My Boys
by TenshiNakama
Summary: Part of the Companions Series. Nami knows her place among her Nakama quite well, or at least thinks she does. With a simple question, her certainties are thrown to the wind, and there's only one way to get them back. Rated for language and mild violence.


Author's Note: I would first like to take this time to sing the praises of my good friend and glorious beta; Kieri. She was the inspiration for this one-shot, with her question; "What is Nami's relation to Zoro?" For most fanfic writers of One Piece, we have already firmly determined the standing for the two—romantic or not—but this question puzzled both me and her to no end.

Here is our answer to that question in all of its current—albeit confusing—standings.

To keep in mind: this fanfic takes place in the space between Kokoyashi and Logue, though not necessarily closer or farther from either. So it's just the original five I'm dealing with here—sorry to those who are Robin, Chopper or (shudder involuntarily)Vivi fans, but they will be making no appearances.

Now just sit back and enjoy! Oh, and please don't forget to leave a comment or two when you're done—we simply love feedback! And who knows? If there is enough interest in this relationship, then we might just have the initiative we need to elaborate.

—Koru

* * *

My Boys

"Hey! Heeey! Hello, there!"

Up in the crow's nest of the Going Merry, Usopp searched through the binoculars for the source of the call, eyepiece finally coming to rest in the sight of a young woman who was sitting in a small skiff with a ripped sail. She waved her arms in the air to make sure she had gotten the attention of the vessel.

"Oi!" Usopp called down to the deck. "There's someone off the port bow!"

This announcement immediately caught the attention of Usopp's captain, who whipped his hands up to the edge of the crows nest and hoisted himself up effortlessly, though he managed to half-land on Usopp after gravity had once more taken hold of him.

"Watch where you're going, Luffy!" Usopp fumed.

"What's out there, Usopp?" Luffy asked the marksman, completely unfazed. "Is it food?"

Usopp rolled his eyes at his captain's one-track mind and refocused the binoculars.

"No," he replied. "It looks like a girl. She's got a busted sail and is trying to get our attention."

Though this information served to disinterest the captain of the Mugiwara Kaizoku, it had the exact opposite effect on another member of the crew.

"What?" Sanji cried. "A damsel in distress? We must hurry to her rescue!"

Atop the crows nest, Usopp groaned audibly.

_Another one-track mind…_

"What should we do, captain?" Usopp asked Luffy, who tilted his head and hummed to himself in thought.

"WHY DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THAT!" Sanji bellowed up at them.

* * *

"Thanks a lot, you guys," the girl said as she climbed aboard; Sanji offering her a hand up as Zoro secured her damaged skiff to the back of their boat. "I thought I was done for!" 

"Worry not, my lovely!" Sanji cried. "For I, your faithful Sanji-kun would never allow any harm to befall such a beauty!"

The girl giggled at Sanji's affections, while everyone else on the ship rolled their eyes.

"What a gentleman," the girl crooned. "My name is Mairin. Thank you for your help, Sanji-kun."

Getting a bit sick of this exchange, Nami stepped in before Sanji could utter another word.

"So what were you doing so far out here on your own?" Nami asked the girl.

"Oh, it's not really so far out as you think," Mairin assured her. "I was just sailing around my island home when a great wind picked up and sent me straight out here after tearing a hole in my sail."

Nami seemed a little surprised by this. "Really? I don't see an island nearby."

"Oh, that's because the island I live on is quite flat," Mairin explained, turning to the south and pointing out towards the horizon. "It's right around there. It's called Pancake island."

"'Pancake island'?" Luffy asked, suddenly interested again. "Do you guys make lots of pancakes there?"

Mairin was tickled by this reasoning, and expressed it with a giggle that Nami was beginning to feel she did a bit too often.

"No, silly," she said. "It's just that our island is flat like a pancake."

"Oh," said Luffy, suddenly disinterested again.

"But we do make wonderful pastries there," she added.

Luffy was immediately on top of the headpiece of the ship, pointing off into the east.

"Yosh! Onward to pastry island!"

"Oi, it's called 'Pancake Island,'" Usopp called after him with an aggravated tone of voice.

"And you're pointing in the wrong direction," Nami added, expressing the same level of annoyance. Mairin made another one of her little giggles again.

"Onward!" Luffy cried again, as Sanji sauntered up behind Mairin and took her hand, asking her if she'd like to partake of some fine cuisine he'd whipped up, to which she agreed with a smile.

* * *

After lunch, Nami and Mairin sat in the second floor cabin at the dining table as the boys worked outside to turn the Going Merry in the direction of Mairin's home island.Mairin had watched Nami as the boys had taken their shares of the meal—and then some, in the case of the boy with the straw hat—and had observed her exchanges with the men very closely. She now put into words what she had been wondering since she first saw Nami. 

"So which one is your boyfriend?"

The drink Nami had been sipping on went suddenly spraying into the air before her at this question. Mairin certainly hadn't expected that reaction, and leapt from the table in surprise. She was worried she had offended the redhead until she saw that Nami was laughing. When she didn't stop, Mairin gave a weak laugh of her own and sat back down to wait for Nami to stop.

It was a while before Nami had taken enough deep breaths to compose herself and actually answer the question.

"'Boyfriend'?" she asked the girl, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"I dunno," Mairin said, suddenly very self-conscious. "I just thought…'One girl, four guys'…you know?"

Nami let out another chuckle before sighing in acquisition.

"I guess I can see where you're coming from," she said. "But I'm really not involved with any of them."

"Not even that cute blonde?" the girl asked, incredulous.

Nami's mirthful laughter suddenly took a distasteful note. "_Especially_ not him."

"But he's so charming!" Mairin protested. "And handsome, and chivalrous…"

"…and you come to see through most of that once he's pulled that routine on every pretty girl we come across."

"Oh," Mairin said comprehendingly, suddenly looking a bit put-out.

"Oh but don't worry about that," Nami said quickly, waving a hand dismissively. "He seems to really like you…sorta…"

"Really?" Mairin asked, completely taken in by the idea.

"Un," Nami said with a false smile. She was rewarded with the girl's pleased look.

* * *

After they had located the island—which really was as close as Mairin had described it; simply too flat to attract much attention—Luffy, Sanji and Nami made their way back to the ship at the end of the day; Luffy's arms full of pastries, Nami's hands full of her map-making supplies, and Sanji's head full of the girl he had escorted back to her home, to assure her family that she had been safe in his care, and to bid a fond but tearful farewell to the beauty. 

"Oi," Usopp called down to them as they approached the ship. "What took you so long?"

"Ah, gomen," Nami called back. "Just had to survey the island for my world map!"

"Yeah," Luffy sputtered through pastry after pastry he was stuffing unceremoniously into his mouth. "And we had to _drag_ Sanji away from that nee-chan's house!"

"It's rude to talk with your mouth full!" Sanji chided Luffy, suddenly grounded from his daydreams and quite irate.

Nami, on the other hand, having just finished the preparations for her map of the island, was in a much better mood, and simply aimed a contented smile at the two men before handing her mapping kit to Usopp and boarding the ship.

* * *

Later that night, Nami stretched triumphantly after putting the final touches on her new map, then quickly printed the name of the island and her signature on the bottom corner of the page. Giving it a routine blow dry with her breath, she took it over to a line she had strung across one wall of the small room to hang it out to dry. 

Satisfied with her latest accomplishment, Nami made her way to her room, rolling her shoulders in an attempt to work the kinks out of her neck and back that had accumulated there from the long hours she had spent at the desk.

In her private cabin, she used the basin of water she kept handy to wash her hands thoroughly, getting all of the ink off of her fingers before turning to grab the hand towel from its nearby hanger. She stopped when she saw the yellow cloth, which was embroidered with a smiling panda.

_Not even that cute blonde?_

Mairin's words suddenly echoed through Nami's mind. She was a bit startled by the unexpected thought, but shook her head and smirked it off.

_No, I don't think of any of them like that,_ she assured herself, changing into her pajamas and flopping into bed. _We're all Nakama—shipmates and friends. And it's not like it's just that; I've got my own personal relationships with them. Sanji's pretty much wrapped around my little finger, Usopp is like the little brother I never had, Luffy is the one who brought us all together, and Zoro…_

Nami's eyes, which had been sliding lazily shut at the ungodly hour, suddenly snapped open. Frowning, she tried again.

_And Zoro is…_

But for as long as she held that thought, she couldn't come up with anything.

_What is he?

* * *

_

The next morning at breakfast, everything was routine. Luffy was the first to dig into the feast, stealing things from the plates of others after he had inhaled his own helping. Usopp fiercely guarded his own food from Luffy's rubber reach, but still ate at a reasonable pace, while Sanji had stepped outside for a smoke. Nami toyed with the bed of cottage cheese and fruit that was nested in a halved papaya with her spoon, not really concentrating on the breakfast Sanji had prepared for her. Her attentions were instead on the green-haired swordsman, who ate his breakfast in silence, only speaking in protest to Luffy's perusal of his plate. When he caught Nami's eye, he suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"What did _I _do?" he demanded.

Nami immediately dropped her gaze, realizing that the only stare that would merit this type of response must have been one of great scrutiny.

Without a word, she stood and left the cabin.

"Oi, Nami!" Luffy called after her. "Are you going to eat that?"

* * *

For the rest of the morning, Nami wandered silently about the ship, choosing various places around the railing to lean and watch the clouds or the sea. This in itself didn't attract too much attention, as there wasn't anything terribly exciting going on. Sanji had decided to pass the time by beginning the slow preparations for what promised to be a decadent curry dish later on; Usopp was working on developing a new line of boshi for his slingshot; Luffy had earlier been attempting to catch a seagull with his extended reach, but had since become bored with this escapade and was now snoozing in the crow's nest, mumbling about meat. Zoro napped off and on around the mast of the ship or against the railings, his white katana nestled safely against his shoulder, but found it a bit difficult to relax completely, as he felt Nami's gaze pass over him at odd intervals, sweat beading on his forehead at the heat of her stare. And whenever he opened his eyes, he would spot Nami nearby or catch that look of hers again; that intense stare that seemed to say she was angry at him for something. 

Soon, it was a bit too much for the swordsman to take, and in order to get her off his back, he grinned wickedly at her the next time she looked at him. This certainly threw her off, but didn't have the exact reaction Zoro expected.

Nami straightened suddenly, as if insulted, and stalked off to her mapmaking room, slamming the door behind her.

The loud noise startled Usopp, and he accidentally poured too much of a certain chemical into the beaker he was holding, causing it to explode.

Coughing at the heavy smoke that had been emitted from the mess, Usopp waved a hand in front of his face to clear the air.

"What's her problem?" he demanded, still coughing.

The swordsman shrugged, his face both smug and contemptuous at the same time—a look that only he could manage.

"Who knows?" he said rhetorically, and finally went to sleep.

* * *

In her room, Nami set to work completing any unfinished maps she had left lying around. That took about two hours, but she still didn't want to leave the comfort of her small workspace—there was too much on her mind, and the best way she'd found to combat unwitting thoughts was to find something that would take up all of her concentration; like mapmaking. 

She searched the room for anything else she could do, and finally decided to start work on a collective map. She gathered together the few islands she had made maps of in the immediate area and began a map that would show their places in relation to one another, taking from the notes she had been keeping about the speed of the boat over each day of travel. This was a much larger endeavor, and when she was done with it, she found that it was difficult to unclench her hand from her pen. Thinking this a bit strange, she pried her fingers from around the shaft and stuck it back in its inkwell, then got up to hang the map. This time she was really surprised—she was much stiffer than she had been when she completed the Pancake Island map last night.

_That's funny,_ she thought absently, turning to exit the small room and finding it to be dark outside.

_I've been working that long? _she wondered, bewildered._ Oh well, at least I got a lot done!_

_And I've got the appetite to show for it, _she added mentally as she felt her stomach rumble._ I wonder if Sanji managed to keep some of that curry away from Luffy for me…_

Not doubting at all the chivalry of the cook, Nami strolled up the stairs to the kitchen, where she found a small portion of the curry left out on the table, covered by a silver bowl, over which Sanji had left a note which scrawled, '_Not for you, Luffy!_'

Nami smiled at the success of this note as she lifted the bowl to reveal the luke-warm dish and a set of utensils.

Once she had finished her midnight snack, Nami left the kitchen in search of her bed, but was startled out of her sleepiness by a strange noise coming from the stern of the ship. Creeping around the kitchen cabin, she spied the silhouette of the green-haired swordsman right where she had left him that day; still leaning up against the side of the railing and snoring away.

_Oh, that pompous…_she growled mentally, not really caring to finish the thought. Turning away, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly._ I've gotta stop wasting energy on that idiot._

The good mood the food had put her in effectively thrown off, Nami found it hard to get to sleep that night. If she listened closely enough, she could hear Zoro's snores from the deck of the ship.

Nami swiftly threw her pillow over her head at that thought, trying to block out the sound that she knew she could have simply ignored with ease—but it still came back, deafening as ever, echoing through her mind until it had filled her head completely.

Screaming her frustration into her bedclothes, Nami threw the pillow on the floor and quickly pulled a coat over her pajamas, storming up the steps from her room on silent feet—however angry she was, she had no desire to wake the rest of the crew for this one.

Zoro at first tried to ignore the soft nudging at his side, pretending that he couldn't feel it in his sleep—he'd slept through worse—but Nami's insistence became too painful to disregard as soon as she kicked him in the chest where he had recently been stitched.

"OW!" he hollered, doubling over and cradling the old wound until the throbbing had abated enough to speak.

"What are you thinking, woman!" he shouted at Nami.

Despite the fact that Zoro healed faster than most normal men, and that it was almost completely sealed by now, the assault still awarded the swordsman with a great deal of pain.

While Nami fully appreciated all this, she still couldn't think of a better way to get his attention, seeing as he'd refused to respond to her earlier efforts. This same careful avoidance he'd been using all day with her had worn steadily on her already thin patience, up until the point where she didn't care if she opened his wound or woke the whole ship or brought the swordsman's hard-wrought wrath upon herself. But now that she'd actually committed the offence, she found herself struck momentarily dumb by Zoro's question—what _had_ she been thinking?

She knew the obvious answer—she wanted him out of her head. But she certainly wasn't going to tell him _that_.

_Then what _are_ you going to tell him?_

She didn't have an answer for that.

Seeing he wasn't going to get a response out of her anytime soon, Zoro leaned grumpily back on the railing and closed his eyes.

"Well, if you're done pissing me off, think you could take a hike? I'm trying to sleep here."

Nami bit back a harsh return, clenching her fists at her sides. Why couldn't she say anything?

_Where do I start? _she wondered._ I didn't even think about it before I came up here._

_Well, think about it now, _her sensible side instructed._ If you want to resolve this you've got to do something about it—you know _he's _not going to ask about it, and you can't just let this go on. Think, girl! Think!_

The idea that came instantly to Nami's mind was one she was sure would get his attention, but she wasn't entirely sure what effects it would have. In fact, she was sure that if she had been the same person she was only a week ago, she would surely have talked herself out of it.

_A week ago, I wouldn't have even _started_ thinking about this, and then I wouldn't be in this mess!_

She sighed. _But I am now, so here goes nothing_.

* * *

The dream Usopp was having portrayed him as the captain of a great fleet of pirate ships. A lazy smile spread itself across his face as he mumbled something about 'the Great Captain Usopp.' 

Suddenly, a cry of pain entered his dreams. Thinking that he and his crew were under attack, Usopp did what he did best—he panicked. Wriggling violently around in his hammock, his mumblings got louder and louder until, with a sudden shriek for his life, Usopp toppled out of his hammock and landed on top of Sanji, sending them both to the floor in a heap.

"Ahhhhahahahaaw!" Usopp wailed, clinging to Sanji. "Don't let Captain Kuro get me!"

"Get off of me, you crap coward!" Sanji shouted at the still-whimpering sharpshooter, slapping him away. "What do you think you're doing!"

"What do you think you're doing, woman!"

Usopp was momentarily surprised out of his fears.

"Since when did it echo in here?" he asked, perplexed, looking around the room as if the answer would present itself if he looked hard enough.

Sanji's gaze however was pointed at the ceiling and the trap door that lead to the top deck.

"That wasn't an echo."

* * *

Climbing cautiously up the wooden rungs that lined the main mast of the ship, Usopp stuck his long nose out over the floorboards to survey the scene. 

"Why'd I have to be the scout?" he griped, knees knocking together beneath him.

"See anything?" Sanji enquired, ignoring Usopp's blubbering.

"No…nothing—wait!"

"What? What is it?"

"I see…Zoro."

Sanji's startled look cascaded into a sneer.

"You baka!" he snarled. "He's _supposed_ to be up there."

"Nami's with him."

Sanji's head was above deck before Usopp could finish the sentence.

"My dear Nami and that scoundrel!" Sanji cried indignantly. "What—!"

Usopp quickly slapped a hand over Sanji's mouth to shut him up.

"Quiet! You want them to hear us!"

"Why not?" the cook fumed, shoving Usopp away. "It isn't proper for a lady to be alone at night, unescorted, in the presence of such a ruffian!"

Sanji began climbing out of the hole, and was surprised at the ferocity with which Usopp pulled him back.

"Did you ever think they might be talking about something important?" Usopp asked.

"Whatever Nami has to say, she can say in front of me!" Sanji crowed. "We hold no secrets from one another!"

As he tried to leave again, Usopp wouldn't let go of him.

"Does only using one eye make you completely blind?" Usopp demanded.

This got Sanji's attention. He rounded on the long-nosed sharpshooter.

"What was that, _troud cul_!"

Usopp flung his arms over his head to protect himself from Sanji's wrath.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!"

"I'm sorry."

Both boys were startled by this voice. Neither of them could get up the ladder fast enough. As soon as they had re-oriented themselves, they saw that Zoro appeared to be as shocked as they were.

"Wh-what?" he sputtered.

"Do I _have_ to repeat myself?" Nami barked. "I'm sorry for kicking you, okay! It was uncalled for."

She wouldn't look at him, and Zoro suddenly found himself faced with the same problem Nami had just solved for herself; getting the other's attention.

Sighing exasperatedly, Zoro calmed himself and leaned back against the railing. Wouldn't do to get all worked up over this—it was probably just something she had to get out of her system before she exploded; he could take the heat of a rant.

"All right," he chuckled defensively. "Now you're freaking me out—first you're acting weird around me, glaring at me, and now apologizing? What the hell's going on with you?"

Nami looked briefly over her shoulder at him, and at first he thought she wasn't going to answer him. But then she turned slowly around and leaned, still standing, against the railing, offering Zoro her profile.

"You know that girl we picked up a couple days ago?"

"The crap sailor?" he asked. "Yeah, I remember. What about her?"

"Well, after lunch on that day we still had her on the ship, she asked me the most ridiculous question."

Zoro waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, he looked up at her and found that she was gazing absently at the starry sky.

"So?" he pushed. "What was it?"

Nami shook her head, as if coming out of a trance and looked at him, then away again.

"Nothing important," she said evasively. "It's just that…well, after, it got me to thinking about things."

"Things?" Zoro asked warily.

Nami sucked on her teeth indecisively.

_Now, how to put this?_

"Well…" she started, figuring she at least needed a little inconclusive momentum to get her going. "You know I haven't been around long, right?"

"Around?" Zoro echoed again. "As in, here?"

"Yeah; as a part of the crew, I mean."

"What about it?"

"Well," Nami looked back up at the sky. "It's just that…well, you see…."

"Would you just spit it out?"

Nami's head whipped around to behold Zoro's annoyed look.

"You never tiptoe around something like this," he accused. "If you've got something to say, then just say it!"

Nami bit her lip—he was right. Even when it was unflattering, she was always straight and to the point.

_What am I doing?_

Letting out all of her indecisiveness with a great sigh, Nami folded her legs beneath her and sat on the deck beside Zoro, then looked straight at him with a new determination.

"All right," she said firmly. "You wanna know what's been going on? I'll tell you."

* * *

"What's going on, you guys?" 

Usopp and Sanji whipped around and slapped their hands over Luffy's mouth.

"Shhhh!" they chorused.

Luffy's voice mumbled indignantly behind their hands, trying to get them off. He was so persistent that they had to drag him back below deck to avoid any attention.

"Be quiet, Luffy!" Usopp said in a harsh but hushed tone. "We're trying to listen!"

"Listen to what?" the captain asked sleepily.

"Something important," Sanji said, turning already to climb up the ladder. "Something you wouldn't understand."

Luffy was too sleepy to sulk, but there was nothing that could satiate his curiosity in what went on around him—especially what went on around his ship. As Usopp climbed after Sanji, Luffy followed close behind, but was stopped suddenly by Usopp's bulbous boot.

"Where do you think you're going?" Usopp asked, voice still in a whisper.

"I wanna see, too!" Luffy slurred under the pressure Usopp was applying to his rubber face.

"Go back to sleep!" Usopp hissed.

Ignoring these instructions, Luffy bent and stretched his way out from under Usopp and extended his arm up out of the hole, pulling himself up to sit next to Sanji, looking around for whatever it was that had them so interested.

"Oi," he said once he'd spotted the two. "It's Zoro and Nami. What's so interesting about—?"

Sanji interrupted him by shoving his head below deck and jumping back down after him to loom over the young man threateningly.

"If you don't be quiet right now, I'll get a lock for the refrigerator."

Luffy shut his mouth so fast, Usopp could hear his jaw crack.

Successfully sedated, Sanji leaned over his captain and pointed a finger in his face.

"If you're gonna be up there with us, you've gotta stay that way, or I'll hold up to that promise, go it?"

Luffy nodded quickly.

"Good." Then Sanji went back up the ladder, Luffy behind him, and Usopp bringing up the rear.

_Wish I had a good threat,_ Usopp thought, his mouth jutting outward in a jealous sulk.

* * *

"You see," Nami was saying to Zoro. "Whenever I was around the Gyojin back on Kokoyashi, or infiltrating a pirate ship I planned to steel from, I always had to know my exact place in the eyes of every crew member, so that I could play my role accordingly." 

She paused, and Zoro nodded as though he understood this logic. Weather he truly did or not, Nami could have cared less; she was pretty sure he'd get the bottom line, at least.

"Living like that was like walking on eggshells all the time—I had to be fully aware of everyone and everything around me. One of the main reasons I got so many maps done while I was under that fish bastard is that the map room was somewhere I was safe from all that—didn't have to think about acting a certain way or worry about who I was acting for."

Nami let out a relieved sigh before continuing.

"When I joined you guys, it was all over. Here, I know I don't have to be like that—I can just be myself and that's all that's really needed. I didn't need to know anything else about my relationships with everyone here except that you were…well, I guess I thought of you as my boys."

"'Thought'?" Zoro asked. "You don't think that way anymore?"

"Well, I do, yes," Nami said quickly. "But old habits die hard, ne?"

Zoro blinked questioningly into her smiling face, waiting for her to elaborate.

"You see, even though I haven't _really_ thought about it, I still know exactly where I stand with everyone—with Sanji, any woman is pretty much a princess, and since I'm the only girl here, that's how I get treated; Usopp and I are connected by the fact that neither of us can really take care of ourselves the way the rest of you do; and to Luffy, all of his crew are really important to him, and I'm no exception."

Nami sighed, hoping the pause would hold Zoro's attention well enough to get the weight of her question across in her next statement.

"And then there's you."

He looked at her, one brow arched and his mouth curved stubbornly over in a characteristic scowl.

"I've been thinking about it since the night that girl left, and I still haven't been able to come up with anything," Nami said, suddenly frustrated again as she stood up and began pacing. "I've been at this for ten years! I can tell exactly what kind of image someone has of me by looking in their eyes once—_once!—_but you?"

Nami whirled around and threw her arms up in weary and disbelieving defeat.

"What_ do_ you see in me?"

Usopp and Sanji held their breath, while Luffy snored mutely through his arm, which, believing it to be meat, had half-heartedly attempted to consume.

Zoro's scowl changed not a bit as he listened to her, but after a couple seconds in the pregnant silence, he finally closed his eyes determinedly.

"You're an annoying, money-grubbing demon-woman."

Sanji and Usopp promptly fell back through the trapdoor in surprise, taking Luffy with them. With no time to waste—as Nami's tone implied—the two dashed back up the ladder as Luffy continued to snore down below. With some quick thinking, Usopp kicked his shoe off and landed it in Luffy's mouth, which plugged the gaping hole. Fortunately, Nami's yelling had covered for the earlier noise.

"Be serious, you pompous asshole!" she shouted. "I'm practically spilling my guts here, and you can't even give me credit for that!"

"I am serious," he said, looking away.

Growling with rage, Nami stalked up to him and grabbed his face in one hand, pursing his lips so that he looked like a gaping fish.

"No you're not," she accused. "If you were, you'd look at me!"

He slapped her hand away.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong."

She stopped.

Zoro slowly rose to his feet so that they were barely a foot apart as he loomed over her. She looked up at him almost apprehensively.

"You're an annoying _and_ stubborn-ass, money-grubbing demon-woman!"

Then he pushed around her and began stalking off in the direction of the trap door to the men's bunk. Sanji and Usopp ducked quickly below deck and jumped back into their hammocks, leaving Luffy on the floor to continue slobbering mutely on Usopp's boot. They moved so quickly that they almost didn't catch what Nami said that made the booted footsteps above their head stop abruptly.

"At least I'm not a coward!"

Nami watched with an almost sick satisfaction as Zoro turned back to face her.

"That's what a coward does, right?" she goaded him. "Runs away?"

Zoro said nothing, but knowing she had struck a nerve with the warrior, Nami went on.

"So what are you afraid of, huh?" she asked him, stalking over to him so she could get up in his face. "Afraid that I might actually learn something about you? Something you don't want anyone to know? Some dark past? We've all got our little secrets, don't we, Pirate Hunter?"

Zoro's eyes didn't leave hers, but she had a feeling that they weren't watching her; that it was a defense mechanism recently developed just so that she wouldn't grab his face again.

"What is it you don't want me to find out?" she asked silkily. "Or is it that you don't want anyone getting too close? Maybe putting together all the little pieces that no one here is smart enough or willing to connect? Like, why you train so much—"

"If I'm gonna be the greatest swordsman in the world, don't you think I'd have to?" he sneered, as if this were obvious.

"—why you sleep as much as you do,—" she went on.

"Training takes a lot out of a guy—"

"—why you never let that white katana out of your sight?"

He didn't have a reply to this one.

"How about why whenever someone tries to touch it you get as overprotective as a man over his woman?"

He looked almost frightened at this implication.

"Or why when I try to ask you something serious, you just stalk off like I would simply leave it alone." Her tone dropped suddenly from condescending to almost sad. "Like it meant nothing."

Nami felt her energy ebbing out of her. It had been a long three days, and she'd gotten barely any sleep. Any energy she'd had left was purely adrenaline at this point, and that was rapidly fading.

Zoro was relieved to see the rage go; he wasn't sure he could have held up under that for much longer before he did or said something he'd regret later. But in the process of drawing all of her emotion back inside, Nami had redirected her focus. Her gaze dropped and her eyes became unseeing. Suddenly, her lids fluttered shut and she fell forward. On reflex, Zoro caught her by the shoulders before her head hit his chest. The sudden jerk of her body shook her awake; at least enough to make her realize what had happened. She pulled as quickly away from him as her tired body could manage.

"Sorry," she mumbled, voice still bitter but now flooded with exhaustion. "I'll just go to bed and leave you alone now."

And with that, Nami shuffled wordlessly off towards the entrance to her bunk.

"There is a reason."

Nami stopped and turned around.

"There's a reason for all of it," he said again.

"Oh? And what's that?"

Zoro looked away for a moment, trying to find out how he could phrase this without giving too much away.

"There's…there's a specific reason I want my name so well-known that it reaches the heavens," he said finally, almost reluctantly.

Nami didn't have to ask about the implication—she knew that if she did, it would only cause him to get defensive again. Instead, she offered a tired smile.

"Well, that's nice," she said. "But that still doesn't answer my question."

There was another long silence in which Zoro scratched nervously at the back of his neck. He surprised Nami when he didn't ask her what the question was.

"Well," he said. "You know how you called us 'your boys'?"

"Yeah," Nami nodded.

"I guess," Zoro almost stuttered. "It's kind of like…you're… sorta… you know… 'my girl.'"

Nami didn't get the chance to hide her confusion at this statement before an enraged blonde flew up from below deck and planted himself firmly between the swordsman and the navigator.

"What was that you called her!" he roared. "How dare you say that about my Nami-san!"

The swordsman's face turned three shades of purple as he bellowed back at the cook.

"I didn't mean it like that, you stupid love-cook!"

Nami ignored the rest of their babblings as she let out a sigh of relief. Not only was she happy that this whole mess was over with, but at least she knew a little more than she did before—she was glad she wouldn't have to deal with Zoro in that sense. She'd just have to figure the rest of it out in the morning when she could think straight. But in the meantime…

"Trust you to take it like that, you hentai!" Zoro raged, whipping his sword out.

"Trust you to take advantage of a lady like that, you great brute!" Sanji spat back, shifting his weight so he could raise his foot into the air.

They were suddenly on the ground with large lumps on their heads, Nami standing over them.

"And trust you two to make such a big deal out of everything!" she said exasperatedly. Then she aimed a glare over at the trapdoor, where she heard a familiar squeak of terror. Two hammer-like blows to the head later, Nami climbed triumphantly out of the room, dusting her hands.

"Hey, what did I do?" Luffy called painfully back up at her. She ignored him and threw both Sanji and Zoro back down into the hole, where they landed on top of Usopp and Luffy, who were still cradling their heads.

"Good night, boys," she said pleasantly, and closed the door on the pile she left on the floor. Letting the wood slap down with a satisfying clatter, she rose from the deck and made her way once more over to her room. Looking back briefly over her shoulder at the door in the deck floor, she allowed herself a small smile before stepping over the threshold.

_My boys…_


End file.
